Page 77 - Architectural Digest - USA (February 2020)

T IONS As the South Korean capital

experiences a cultural renaissance,

a community of young designers has
entered the spotlight, experimenting

with new materials and redefining

traditional craft. Meet five firms forging
the nation’s new creative frontier

TEXT BY HANNAH MARTIN PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEONGMEE YOON

Ok Kim

“They’re inspired by stone stacks, something Korean people make
when they’re wishing for love, or luck on a test,” the designer
explains of her colorful side tables, which she regularly assembles
into totems for display. (Two groups are pictured below at her
studio in the Yangcheon-gu neighborhood.) “They always look
precarious, but somehow they balance.” After studying wood craft
at Pusan National University, Kim went to Hongik University for
furniture design and apprenticed under a master artisan to learn
ottchil, the Korean traditional lacquer method. She now gives the
labor-intensive process a contemporary twist, hand-brushing coat
after coat onto steel forms, then sanding away to reveal painterly
patterns. A single table can take nearly four months to finish.
Working with the lacquer feels autobiographical for Kim, who says,
“I am Korean; these works show who I am.” okkimstudio.com